So, they're remaking Roots.

Cafe Society
1

Apparently the History Channel is taking a break from its Nazi/aliens mandate and moving into the burgeoning slave-movie trade.

Why do I feel like part of my childhood just died?

Rationally speaking, a book is a book, and many remakes have been successful. I prefer the 1995 Pride and Prejudice to the 1940s version, and the 1990s Little Women to any of the previous editions (though I still love the Katharine Hepburn version; I just found the newer take to be much truer to the book).

But damn it, this is Roots. Yes it was a 1970s Hollywood star vehicle, yes it wasn’t as raw and violent as a modern version will almost certainly be (and thus it’ll be more realistic)–although it wasn’t a slouch in the horror department even considering its time; no one will forget LeVar Burton’s capture or being whipped, or the older Kunta Kinte played by John Amos having his foot chopped off, or the horror of Madge Sinclair/John Amos as their daughter Kizzy was sold away from them as punishment for learning to read, or Leslie Uggams’ Kizzy getting raped by Chuck Connors. Or the heartbreak of Ben Vereen as his master lies and uses him over and over again.

As Burton himself says, he’s resigned to it, and believes that if it teaches anyone something they didn’t know before, it’s worth it.

I just… I dunno. There are so many other families who spent generations in slavery, so much other real history to mine; why not let their tales be told, instead of remaking this one?

I guess the name recognition of “Roots” and nostalgia factor–half of American watched the original when it was on, many of us still alive thank heavens–are the reasons they’re going back to this particular well. In short, it’s the money, stupid.

I’m sure I’m just another aging Gen-X fogey who wants her childhood classic moments un-messed-around with, but they won’t leave 'em alone.

Anyway, what do you guys think? If nothing else it will certainly be a massive boon to black actors–the cast will be massive, I’d imagine, even given the shorter airing time (8 hours vs. the original 12).

Good luck with whoever’s gonna be cast as Chicken George. I wouldn’t want to compete with Ben Vereen’s performance, that’s for damn sure!

2

The miniseries was many times better than the book, which did not work well as a novel or as history and has numerous stains attached (plagiarism and shoddy research among others). With the wealth of African-American literature, both fiction and nonfiction, why can’t they go with something else?

3

I’m going to go with Secret Choice F:

I saw the original and don’t have an opinion about a remake one way or the other. I wasn’t old enough to watch it during its original run and Roots was just another thing I watched in school. It was good, but I don’t feel any attachment to it.

That’s the group of people History is trying to reach.

4

I’m one of the oddballs that has never seen Roots. In 1976, when it first aired, I was overseas, stationed in Korea, and the military TV channel didn’t get to air it. So I’ve seen clips, but that’s all.

I did read the book though, and found it very entertaining, although almost certainly highly fictionalized.

5

Slight hijack: I saw Twelve Years a Slave the other night and IMHO it is probably the greatest movie ever made on the topic of slavery. Brilliant acting, writing, and characterization: it manages to invoke the horror of “the peculiar institution” without being exploitative, melodramatic, or sensationalized. I expect (deserved) Oscar nominations out the wazoo come winter.

6

The problem with Roots–and I say this as someone who kinda-sorta enjoyed it–is that it is dated in the way that all late-1970s movies seem to be. That corny music. Kizzy’s weird jherri-fro. That awful make-up. It somehow makes slavery seem both tragic and comical at the same time.

So I can understand the desire to re-do the whole thing so that it’s more sophisticated and less cringe-worthy.

Still, you had a great ensemble with memorable cameos. Everyone from Maya Angelou to O.J Simpson was up in that piece.

7

Oh monstro, insult the makeup and hair all you want, but if you’re going to insult that music it is on. Seriously, I still get shivers when I hear the opening. It invokes memories of seeing proud John Amos in the woods raising his baby daughter up to the nighttime sky and naming her in the tradition of his father. “Kizzy: behold the only thing greater than yourself!”

Ah, bless Youtube. Fucking awesome.

I don’t know if anyone who watched it later can replicate the experience of seeing it back when it first aired. We don’t share such universal TV moments anymore, except perhaps during tragedies like 9/11. Roots was everywhere and watched by everyone I knew. Did it have the conventions of the '70s? Sure. What else could it do? Concessions to the era had to be made. But even with its limitations and what now seem like old-fashioned production values, it was captivating and most importantly, took a significant portion of the U.S. on the same emotional journey.

However much Haley made up or took from other people’s histories, the amalgam that resulted was still a powerful tale of suffering and survival. And I haven’t studied much about whether race relations were at all impacted by the show, but I can’t imagine that it wasn’t, especially considering this was a time when there were nary any dramas starring black people on TV, much less a show airing multiple nights in a row focusing almost exclusively on dozens of people from a single black family. This had to have some affect on people who’d never seen such an intimate look at the ugly history of slavery and the (sorry for the pun) roots of the civil rights movement (the desegregation/voting rights act was only 13 years old at this point!). This was an epic that didn’t condescend or say “oh those poor black victims,” but showed so much pride, subversion, defiance and perseverence that everyone could identify and (damn it, sorry again) root for the freedom that was so costly and hard-won in the end.

Oy I’m getting verklempt. I really loved this damn series. 11-year-old me was as affected by it as I was a few years later when I saw Night and Fog. (Although admittedly I’ve never been able to watch that one a second time; I’m not a complete masochist.)

Anyway, point is: the music rocks, dammit. :slight_smile:

8

I wonder if they’ll restore Tom Bombadil and have Emmanuel Lewis as Frodo and Bilbo’s magical cousin, Baggins Vance. That would be cool.

9

In the first episode of the remake, Kunta Kinte is found in Africa by the American Pickers. In a later episode, Kunta Kinte’s owner needs cash and takes him down to Rick Harrison’s pawn shop.

“Hmmm… well, I don’t really know how to tell his condition and everything, but I’ve got a buddy who specializes in Gambian field slaves. Mind if I give him a… letter?”

But I can’t figure out where the aliens come in.

10

Roots totally ripped off the Lion King.

11

Ha. When I saw The Lion King I thought, “holding newborns up in the air must totally be a thing in Africa.”

Joking aside, I with the OP on the impact of Roots. I was of a similar age it it walloped the bejesus out of me. Of course I’d heard of slavery and at that point had read Gone With the Wind and it just hadn’t yet occurred to me that slavery might be something that black people might not particularly like. :rolleyes:

12

I just hope the remake will include something the original bizarrely omitted - car chases. Lots and lots of car chases.

13

When Roots originally aired, I was rather preoccupied with figuring out that whole walking and talking business, and I’ve never gotten around to watching it since, so I have no emotional connection to the original whatsoever. As for the remake…to be totally honest, I most likely wouldn’t get around to watching that in the next 36 years either.

I don’t have much of an opinion one way or the other about the remake, though I do have to wonder how much of a market for it there is. It seems like the sort of people who would be unaware of the original, or who wouldn’t watch it because it’s so terribly old and funny-looking and therefore boring, probably aren’t the same folks who watch the History Channel. But maybe I’m totally off base on that point.

ETA: I voted “What the hell is Roots?” because although I’m aware of the movie it was the only option that covered my indifference to the remake.

14

I had forgotten all these things.

Remake it. It will be better.

15

Lavar Burton was in roots? Damn, I thought he was my age. (or maybe had like five years on me.) I was only seven years old when that movie came out.

16

Well, Mark Hall-Patton probably has the right look for the era.

Anyway, the aliens will be the slavemasters in this one.

17

I’ve not seen the original, but, seeing as it’s being done by the History Channel, it’ll suck. You may think it’s a slam dunk, but they’ll figure out a way.

18

I’m looking forward to the “Modern Family” tie-in, with Alex and Haley in blackface.

19

I didn’t see the original because I refuse to spend an entire week watching one TV show. I don’t have that sort of time to commit.

However, if they want to remake it, go ahead. But if it’s shown all in an entire week, I won’t watch that, either.

20

Wow. There have been a few technical advances since the 70s, in case you haven’t heard. :wink:

I was a teenager watching the original. Very much enjoyed it, but certainly won’t have my memories violated if there is a remake. I didn’t vote in the poll since “I saw the original and don’t care one way or another if they remake it” wasn’t an option.